Veterans Critical Of Congress

POTTSVILLE — It was close when it came to getting an agreement with the federal budget and raising the debt limit. Some of the people who could be affected if the debt ceiling is not increased are veterans.

Some vets in Schuylkill County are not happy with our lawmakers.

Brenda Griffth-Sechman works in the Schuylkill County Veterans Affairs Office. Sechman said vets get a federal monthly pension depending on the length of service and battle wounds.

“$124 to $2,700 dollars a month depending on how severe the compensation is what will determine what we get.”

With that kind of money involved, Sechman explained there have been a lot of questions from vets.

“A big concern with them is what`s happening with their claim. They are not working so the claims are not being put through and the wait is a year or longer for a claim to go through.”

Veterans we talked to have nothing good to say about congress and its budget battle. That includes Vietnam veteran Guy Wiederhold of Pottsville.

“These are a group of people who are paid to do a job who aren’t doing the job, plain and simple and as a veteran we were there to go into harm`s way and all we asked them to do is pass a simple budget,” Wiederhold said.

Another Vietnam vet David Fessler said he agrees with Wiederhold.

“They have a lot of people upset, a lot of people on edge, especially the veterans; they need to straighten that out.”